Recovery
by DarkNymfa
Summary: Dani and Vlad celebrate their first Christmas as a family.


Christmas Truce gift for doddling-goods over on Tumblr. I'm a huge sucker for redemption AUs so... sue me.

Also it's probably pretty obvious but Phantom Planet didn't happen in this AU.

* * *

Dani had honestly thought that she had seen her home – the Masters mansion – at its gaudiest. The green and gold it was typically decorated with weren't exactly fashionable, after all.

Walking into the house after a month away showed her exactly how wrong she had been, however.

The old decorations, the green and gold and football memorabilia, were all still present. However, shimmering tinsels in green and red and silver and gold had been added, shiny white snowflakes hung from the ceiling, and fairy lights were strung around just about everything in the entry hall.

Not only was it somehow _worse_ than the normal appearance, it was also quite surprising to her that Vlad had altered his carefully put-together mansion.

She wracked her brain trying to come up with a reason for it, but she couldn't think of anything besides the party happening in the Ghost Zone later that day. And surely that couldn't be it? Unless it had an equivalent holiday among the living? But she didn't even know what day it was, let alone what major holidays the USA might've celebrated on that specific day.

She glanced around the entry hall, but didn't see anything to show the date, or Vlad. Shrugging to herself, she pulled her phone from her pocket to check the date. The 25th… She was pretty sure that there _was_ a major holiday that day, but she couldn't remember anything specific.

That would also explain why Danny had left the Ghost Zone a day or two earlier, before Frostbite had coaxed her into leaving. His parents would've been paying more attention to his whereabouts during the holidays, and he might've needed to make preparations as well.

Mystery thus solved, she put her phone away again and walked further into the mansion. The decorations seemed to spread across the entire mansion, humming lights and sparkling tinsels everywhere.

She was almost afraid to enter her room, but after cautiously opening the door, she discovered that it had been spared from Vlad's insane decorating spree. _Thankfully_.

After quickly unpacking her bags – aka throwing almost all of its contents in the laundry basket and dumping the rest on her bed to sort out later – Dani went to explore the rest of the mansion in the hopes of finding Vlad.

She had honestly expected him in the lab – it's where he spends most of his time, after all – but found him on her way there, in the living room. Not that she _needed_ to go through the living room to get to the lab, but she could see the light coming from there in the hallway and she was quite curious to see what, exactly, was creating so much light.

Imagine her surprise when she finds a _tree_ , of all things, the source of the light. It had been decorated much like the rest of the house, small but bright lights and shiny tinsel, but also a great number of balls, white and silver and even black, which caught the light on their smooth surfaces. The tree was crested with a single decoration, a glittering silver star.

As Dani's gaze swept downwards, she was surprised to find that the roots of the tree were hidden by a bunch of… presents? Yes, they must've been presents, a bunch of boxes in shiny packing papers, most of them topped off with equally shiny bows.

A soft cough drew her attention away from the rather spectacular tree and towards the sofa, where Vlad Masters sat. A book was held loosely in his hands, so he had probably been reading, although Dani found it hard to imagine that someone could read without being distracted by the tree.

"Ah, Danielle, my dear. I see that you've found the Christmas tree. What do you think?"

She shrugged, looking the tree over once more before turning to him. "I dunno. It's certainly very… shiny?"

Vlad looked at her, one eyebrow raised in a clearly incredulous expression. She wasn't sure what kind of reaction he had been expecting, but it certainly hadn't been the one she had given. Looks like _someone_ screwed up her education.

"You… don't know what Christmas is, do you?"

"Hmm," she answered, pretending to think about it, tilting her head down and resting it in her hand. Then she snapped her fingers and pointed one at Vlad, grinning widely. "Nope."

He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "You haven't even heard of it during your travels? It's celebrated in a lot of countries, not just here."

She hummed again, this time in real thought. She's pretty sure that she _has_ , in fact, heard of Christmas before, but she can't really remember anything about it. "I think I've heard the name before, but that's about it, yeah."

"I imagine you would have," he answers, voice returning to its normal smooth purr. "After all, the entire Ghost Zone celebrates the Christmas Truce on the 25th."

"Oh yeah. I remembered that there was a party and a truce, but I couldn't remember the occasion." She walked over to the couch, draping herself over its arm. "Tell me more about this Christmas thing? Seems like a big deal, you even decorated the mansion and stuff."

The look he gave her was one she couldn't decipher. But whatever he was looking for, he must've found it, because he sighed and looked away, eyes roving over the various decorations before settling on the tree.

"Christmas is a holiday closely associated with… family." He licked his lips, and a heavy silence fell as Dani waited for him to continue. "I… was hoping to celebrate it with my real family, this year. With you."

"Oh." It was a stupid thing to say, of course. He would've been expecting a _real_ reply, but Dani had been stunned beyond words. She knew that Vlad and her were a family of sorts, now. She had been living with him for the past few months, after all, had even taken to calling herself Danielle Masters if anyone asked. And it seemed like he really cared about her, yes.

But she had thought the same last time. And look what happened back then!

This time was different, of course. Danny said that Vlad had really been trying to do better, and she trusted Danny's judgment. And as nice as Danny's offer of moving in with the Fenton family was, she knew she couldn't take it. Sure, his parents probably would've accepted her. They were weird like that. But living like that, with them, no matter what anyone said, she would've just been… Danny. Even if they didn't mean to, the others would look at her and see _him_.

And she didn't want that. She wanted to be herself, her own person.

So when Vlad offered her his own house, his own love… well, it couldn't hurt to try, right? If it didn't work out she could always steal some of his money and go back to traveling the world. And she knew what he was like, now. She wouldn't be fooled again.

But his care seemed genuine. He really _did_ take care of her like she was his own daughter, just like he promised. And, clearly acknowledging her freedom to leave, he left her a large stack of money in her room in the first week. When she had questioned him about it, he simply said that he "wouldn't have his daughter starve because of his own mistakes". And so she had squirreled the money away, in her backpack phased in the wall, where Vlad couldn't find it to take it away. But he never even tried.

But still… despite his care, and his gentleness, and the fact that despite her misgivings and their past, she had started to care about him too… she didn't think that he really considered her _family_. Sure, he called her his daughter, but… she never thought he _meant_ it. Not like this.

She snapped out of her thoughts when she heard Vlad clear his throat, and blushed, shoulders hiking up and her hand finding the back of her neck. "Sorry. I kind of… got lost in thought?"

"I figured as much." He smiled at her, warmly, but with a hint of… uncertainty? "So, what do you think? Do you… want to celebrate Christmas together? As a… family?"

A few months ago, she would've said no. No doubt, no hesitation. She would've said that it would never _ever_ happen.

But… the last few months with Vlad had been… surprisingly good. He was clearly _trying_ , and she knew how hard it could be to break bad habits.

So she smiled back, and nodded. "I would love to celebrate it with you."

The uncertainty in his eyes melted away instantly, and his smile widened into a grin. He must've been really worried that she would turn down his offer.

In one smooth movement he stood up and extended his arm towards the tree, still smiling at Dani. "In that case, my dear, how about we start with the Christmas presents? They're a Christmas morning tradition, after all."

She followed his gesture to the tree with her eyes, her gaze settling on the many gifts stacked underneath it. "But… I didn't buy you anything."

"Well, of course not," Vlad said as he walked over to tree, crouching down next to it. "After all, you're still a child. No one would've expected someone your age to buy a present for a family member. Friends, maybe, but certainly not for their family."

Dani pulled herself upright, sliding off of the arm and onto the sofa proper. "So then… Are there any presents for you under the tree?"

He gave her a scandalized look. "Well, of course there are, my dear! Giving presents isn't limited to just family, after all. Friends give each other presents all the time as well, and Christmas is quite a big deal among the ghosts, as you might've noticed." He glanced back at the tree. "Although I must admit that most of these _are_ , in fact, for you."

"They are?" She scanned through the presents, or at least those she could see, but couldn't tell which ones were for who from the couch. "But… I barely know anyone! And how would they..." she trailed off as she saw Vlad's pleased smile. "You… got in contact with everyone and got their presents for me?"

Vlad pulled one of the presents out from underneath the tree, glancing at the label on it and grimacing slightly. "Well, of course I did. I want nothing but the best for you. Speaking of which, this one is for you." He held out the present towards Dani, the packing paper glossy and decorated with space rockets.

She took it from him, twisting the box in her hands so she could read the text on it as well. ' _For Dani, From Danny'_ it read, and she didn't try to stop the smile that found its way to her face. She grabbed the glimmering silver bow and phased it off of the present, and then did the same with the packing paper. Call her a hoarder all you want, but it was pretty and _Danny_ gave it to her. She wanted to keep it.

Doing so had revealed a fairly standard cardboard box, and Dani made a face as she considered her options for opening it. Sure, she _could_ phase through it, or punch through it, or _burn_ through it. But before she got too far into considering these options, she spotted the arrow that had been drawn on the box, with _'OPEN HERE'_ written in bold lettering underneath it. Well, way to spoil her fun, Danny. Regardless, she followed the instructions, tearing open the box from the edge where the arrow had pointed.

The contents of the box caught the many lights scattered around the room, the glow reflecting off of a metallic silver surface, and catching on several smaller vials surrounding the bigger object. She grabbed the metal tube, pulling it out of the box and inspecting it more closely.

She knew what it was, of course. She would've been an idiot if she couldn't recognize a Fenton Thermos. But it wasn't a regular Thermos. The cap had been painted black, with the DP logo in white on the very top. She turned it around in her hands, carefully running her hands across its surface. It seemed like a perfectly fine Thermos, ordinary outside of the paint-job.

She grinned at Vlad, who had raised an eyebrow at the unexpected gift, and then in one swift movement, she uncapped the Thermos and pointed it at him. The Thermos activated with a whir, blasting its blue-white light right into Vlad's face, messing up his hair. Satisfied that it was functional, Dani capped the Thermos again and stuck out her tongue at Vlad. "Had to make sure it worked, right?"

He glared at her, before making a fairly hopeless attempt at straightening his hair. "Yes, yes. I guess I should've known that Daniel would make sure you had one of those infernal devices. Was that the only thing he gave you?"

"Nah, there's something else in here too. Hang on." She laid down the Thermos next to her, digging into the box to grab the vials she had seen. They hit each other with clacking noises, clearly made out of glass, before she managed to get her hands on them.

Pulling them out, she noticed that the vials were filled with a thick, green liquid. She frowned, vaguely recognizing the material, but failing to remember what it was. She rolled one around in her hand, seeing the liquid emit a faint glow, and suddenly it clicked and she knew where she had seen it before.

"Ecto-Dejecto..." she whispered, looking at the numeral vials she held. "He gave me more Ecto-Dejecto, in case I destabilized again."

Vlad hummed from his place next to the tree. "How unexpectedly thoughtful of him. Hopefully you won't need it, of course, but it'll be good to have regardless."

"Yeah," she agreed, sticking the vials in the pocket of her hoodie. "I'll make sure to keep those somewhere safe. Wouldn't want the wrong ghost, or human, to get their hands on these." She shot Vlad a pointed look, before nodding to the tree. "What's next? One for you, or are you just grabbing them at random?"

"I'll just… go in whatever order I grab them in. As I said, most of these are for you, so alternating them would be a hopeless venture." He reached underneath the tree to pull out another gift, and one that clearly originated in the Ghost Zone, based on the fact that it was faintly glowing. He glanced at the label before rolling his eyes and handing it over to Dani.

Reading the label as well, Dani quirked an eyebrow and glanced at Vlad for confirmation. He shrugged. _'To: Cub, From: Ghost Zone's Greatest Hunter'_ the label stated. The gift itself was smaller than Danny's, the box narrower and flatter. The wrapping paper was ectoplasm green, glowing faintly, and the bow a purple also commonly found in the Ghost Zone.

Dani tore through it quickly, uncovering another box, but this one made out of wood, with metal clasps on the side to hold it closed. She was already curious to see what Skulker, of all people, might have given her for Christmas, but now she felt her curiosity rise another notch. Quickly, she undid both latches, and opened the lid.

The inside of the box was covered with a soft, velvet-like material, fitted exactly around its actual contents. And there, lying in the center of the dark fabric, laid what had to be the most beautiful knife that Dani had ever seen. The handle was a shiny black, soft like well-worn leather, and the blade itself was a vibrant, glowing green, with elegant carvings along its sides.

She lifted it up gently, weighing the blade in her hand. It hummed with power, her ghostly core eagerly responding in kind. She twirled it around before quickly placing it back in the box, latching it closed again.

"I think that I'm going to have to talk with my employee about giving my child _weapons_ for _Christmas_."

Dani snorted. "Ah, come on, it's not like I'm not a living weapon myself. There's nothing that I could do with a knife that I can't do with my own ghost powers and you know it."

Vlad sighed, heavily. "Yes, I suppose you're right, my dear. And based on who gave it, I guess I should be glad that it wasn't a gun, at least." He sighed again before turning back to the tree, grabbing another present. He glanced over the label before pulling the present into his own lap, a somewhat baffled expression on his face.

"One for you?" She wasn't sure why Vlad would be confused by that, though, but she couldn't think of anything better.

"Yes," he answered, still looking at the present he was holding. Its paper was glossy white, and it was topped off with a crimson red bow. Nothing about it looked noteworthy to her. Vlad seemed to have picked up on her silent question, however. "It's from Daniel."

"Oh." With this new information, she looked over the present again. It was far smaller than what Danny had given her, a small square box, and far more ordinary. She supposed it shouldn't be all that surprising, since Danny was the forgiving type, and he _did_ agree that Vlad had been changing his ways. Apparently Vlad hadn't expected to get a gift from Danny, though.

He carefully ripped the paper away, frowning at the package inside the present. Dani craned her neck to see what it was, but it was too small to see from the couch. She slumped down, giving up, and instead called to Vlad. "What did you get?"

Vlad grunted wordlessly, holding up the present for her to see. Dani barely repressed the laugh that came up, instead making a rather undignified snorting sound.

Danny hadn't given him a present for Vlad. No, he had given Vlad a present for his _cat_.

"Yes yes, laugh it up. I should've known that the little badger wouldn't have given me a real present." He rolled his eyes and turned back to the tree, but Dani could see the fond smile on his face.

"Anyway," he said, pulling out another box. "This one is for you again."

And so they continued on for a while, Dani opening several presents for every gift that Vlad received. Turns out that he had been right about most of them being for Dani, as Vlad only received 4 gifts, compared to Dani's 9.

Most of her presents had been surprisingly thoughtful. Combat boots from Sam (who had clearly remembered Dani drooling over hers), a custom-built phone from Tucker, a beanie and an offer to go shopping together from Valerie, and in-depth research and reports detailing Danny's growth as a halfa from Jazz, probably because it had become clear over the past few months that there was quite a difference between Vlad and the Phantoms in the way they grew into their powers.

Of course her ghostly friends hadn't disappointed either. Frostbite had given her a book detailing the various types of ghostly cores and common powers associated with them, Wulf had given her a rock _from the moon_ (which he had apparently retrieved by opening a portal to _the surface of the moon_ ), and Dora had given her a beautiful necklace with a sparkling sky-blue stone, with a note that explained that it would shift to an acid-green color if she transformed into ghost mode while wearing it.

Vlad's presents had been… mixed in quality. Besides Danny's cat toys, he also received a tin of fudge from Jack Fenton, and a tin of Christmas cookies from Maddie Fenton. When Dani questioned his far more enthusiastic response to Maddie's cookies, Vlad had explained that, back when they were in college, Maddie used to bake these cookies for the three of them, following a family recipe. The only ghostly gift he had received had been from Skulker, who had given him a ghost tracker honed in exclusively on halfas, made to track them even in human form. Vlad's initial reaction was disgust, of course, but that had quickly settled when he saw the note that Skulker had added. The tracker wasn't intended to _hunt_ halfas, but to find them if something ever happened to Dani and she went missing.

Dani looked over her stack of presents, a wide grin on her face. She had _friends,_ who not only cared about her, but who cared enough to give her hand-picked presents for Christmas!

Vlad drew her from her thoughts by clearing his throat, and Dani turned around to look at him again. In his hands rested another present, its shape crumpled, like the contents were soft and pliable. He smiled at her, warm and kind.

"Of course, I've saved the best for the last."

She quirked an eyebrow at him. "How did you know it was the best if you didn't know what the rest gave me?" Seeing him splutter for an answer, she waved him off. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Lemme see!"

He rolled his eyes, fondly, before handing her the gift. Like she had expected, the present was soft, rather than packed in a box like most of the others. She tore open the paper, and the contents fell onto her lap.

It was a sweater, black with the edges on the bottom and cuffs white. In the center, standing out in stark white against the black material, was the infamous DP logo that she and Danny both wore on their jumpsuits.

Dani gently ran her hands over the material, its yarn soft and surprisingly non-itchy.

"I hand-knitted it for you, my dear. I hope… I hope you like it."

She looked up at Vlad, surprised. "You… hand-knitted it? For me? Why?"

He licked his lips, suddenly awkward. "I… wanted it to be special. Sure, I could've bought you anything you desired. But that's not the point of Christmas. This way…" He cleared his throat, wringing his hands somewhat uncertainly. "This was more meaningful."

Dani looked back at the sweater in her hands, before phasing out of her hoodie and pulling on the sweater. She fingered the cuff, the material soft and warm. The sweater instilled a feeling of comfort and warmth on her, and she smiled at Vlad before launching herself at him.

Vlad scrambled to catch her, barely stopping himself from toppling over, as Dani wrapped her arms around him in a hug. He smiled and returned the hug, Dani melting away against him.

"Thanks… dad. For everything."

Vlad gasped, pulling away to look her in the eye. "Did you… Really?"

"Yeah," she said as she pulled him back into the hug. "Yeah, really."

He hummed, holding her tightly.

"Thank you, my dear. This is the best Christmas gift that I've ever received."


End file.
